Naturelog: Sunday 3rd April

Another very pleasant day and a chance to do some birdwatching from the water during a trip Keith and I made with Skipper Ray Wade out to the saltmarsh islands in the River Medway. Our morning trip took us out past Burntwick marsh and we got a look at the Gull colonies, where there seemed to be a lrger number than usual of Mediterranean Gulls. There were also large numbers of Brent Geese and Black-tailed Godwits on the mud-flats, either already on migration or just about to leave.

Mediterranean Gulls

Black-tailed Godwits

Brent Geese

We dropped anchor off Greenborough marsh for lunch and were immediately busy as there seemed to be birds everywhere. Along with the numerous Marsh Harriers and Common Buzzards, a passing hawk was identified as a migrating Honey Buzzard and shortly afterwards a Hen Harrier was seen over one of the islands. Rather than moving on it was decided to just sit where we were and see what went past. During the coarse of the afternoon we also saw an Osprey and 3 Honey Buzzards plus numerous Common Buzzards and Marsh Harriers.

Common Buzzard

On the way back to dock at the end of the afternoon we found 3 Peregrines and a Shag around the remains of the old oil jetties.